A Los Angeles woman received a winning verdict of $9 million after an arbitration judge decided against Health Net, her insurance provider.  Most of that award ($8.4 million, to be exact) came in the form of punitive damages, and you’ll see why he came to that stinging amount if you consider the case.

The woman was diagnosed with breast cancer and had started chemotherapy treatment to remove the tumor that doctors had found.  However, doctors stopped her treatments and notified her that her bills were going unpaid by the insurance company.

And hers wasn’t the only patient’s bills that were being unpaid.  Health Net stopped paying on around 1,600 patients, according to the Associated Press, whose accounts were frozen while a third-party review board was initiated to review the cases.

This halt to payment was deemed illegal under California law.  Health Net was also sued by a Los Angeles county attorney for this practice.   Also, Health Net received flak after it was learned several years ago that they were giving bonuses to adjusters who could reject the most number of claims, a policy which Health Net officials claim was reviewed and ended.

And now, they have 9 million reasons why they should review their health coverage practices once again.  Ouch.